Taj Mahal: the making-of

Ben Kingsley signs on to play the man who built an icon

Almost 30 years after he won an Oscar for playing the titular Indian peacemaker in Gandhi , Ben Kingsley is set to take another passage to India in Taj.

Budgeted at a fairly modest $15-18 million, Taj tells the story of Shah Jahan, the Emperor who whipped up one of the most famous buildings in the world as a tribute to his much-missed dead wife.

The carked-it missus in question will be played by Bollywood megastar Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and the movie is scheduled to start filming next autumn.

Kingsley reveals, "With my passion for India and the Taj Mahal now becoming one of the seven wonders of the World, I am compelled to ask 'why' and 'how' this scream of grief frozen in marble came into being."

Should be an interesting biopic/love story, then, but we're more intrigued to see how well the CGI Taj-in-progress will look. And will it really scream? That would be cool.

It's a film about a sad man building a mausoleum - we can't wait! Can you? Let us know...